Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine January 2015

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Letter of the Month JANUARY 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 48 FOR SALE 23’ Atlantic 245WA Fishing Boat Specifications: Model: 245WA Atlantic Year: 2009 Length: 23’ 4” Beam: 8’ 6” Minimum Draft: 1’ Engine/ Fuel type: Twin gas Yamaha 115hp Mechanics: Twin Outboard Motors Communications: Standard Horizon DSC VHF Engine Hours: Under 10 Additional Features: Hydraulic Steering Navigation Lights Radio/ CD Player Microwave Asking Price: US$30,000.00 (ONO) Serious offers only - Call: (784) 488-8465 HELP TRACK HUMPBACK WHALE MIGRATION Your contributions of tail fluke photographs of humpback whales from the Caribbean region are critical for conservation efforts. INTERESTED in Helping Go to www.CARIBTAILS.org GETTING STARTED IN ST. LUCIA Dear Compass, A couple of years ago, my partner, Ben, and I delivered a yacht from La Paz, Mexico to Panama. The boat was bound for St. Lucia. On board were the skipper and owner. Over the weeks of bobbing along the coast we spoke with the skipper about his life in St. Lucia and the plans he had for the yacht that we were delivering, a Choate 40, an old race yacht built in California. He mentioned that he thought it might be a great idea to have two of them in St. Lucia where they could race each other, giving people the opportunity to participate as crew. Having sold our dive centre a few years before, we were looking for a new venture, so after Ben and I left the yacht in Panama we went to check out St. Lucia. We liked what we saw. We headed back to Los Angeles to catch our flight home to the UK and while there took a look at a 1981 Choate 40 that was for sale and had a full survey carried out. On returning to London, we decided to go for it. We bought the boat and trucked it to Galveston, Texas. In Texas we spent weeks working on the engine and rigging and on a general overhaul of the boat. We were joined by a sailing friend, Emma, and the three of us set out for St. Lucia. After a sail across the Gulf of Mexico we pulled into St. Petersburg, Florida, as the engine that we had completely renovated had completely packed in. We spent over a month getting a new engine installed. As it was coming up to Christmas, time was of the essence. We set off again, heading out through the Florida Keys and across to the Bahamas, through the chain to the Turks & Caicos, through the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and across into the BVI. By the time we arrived in Tortola it was time for Emma to head back to the UK. We had encountered some incredibly strong winds, played the night lees and had a serious run-in with US Immigration; now it was time for just the two of us to continue on down the chain of islands to St. Lucia. We sailed straight to Nevis before hopping to Guadeloupe, Dominica and finally St. Lucia on February 15th, 2013. We were greeted by our potential business partner, who came out to meet us on his yacht. Unfortunately, over the coming months it became apparent that the partnership wasn’t going to work out. We had bought a boat and sailed it here, all on a whimsical idea. But I am a believer in things happening for a reason. It was time to take a new direction and continue to do something in St. Lucia. We had been warned that setting up a business in St. Lucia would be a long process, and even though things did move slowly (and on more than one occasion the left hand didn’t know what the right was doing), it was quite painless. We were given the name of a good lawyer who incorporated our business, and received our first official pieces of paper. Finding out which departments we needed and what we needed from them was the most difficult. Ben became friends with the lady at Maritime Affairs, as he spoke with her at least once every day for six weeks while trying to get a meeting with her boss to find out what needed to be done. We had submitted our business plan and we were waiting to outline our proposal. When we did finally get to see him, the meeting went very well and he seemed positive that our application would be granted. Then came the Catch 22 situation. To start our business we would have to import the yacht, costing thousands of dollars. However, this wasn’t a guarantee that we would get the go-ahead. The point was that it would be unfair to other boat-business operators if we were not St. Lucia registered. I agreed, but I would have preferred to get the go-ahead and then pay for importation. Anyway, we found a clearing agent and I informed him of some recent changes in yacht importation, of which he was unaware. The St. Lucia government has introduced a tax incentive for yachting businesses, as they want to attract more investors into the industry. Importation tax is now 15 percent of the value of the boat, which is assessed by their own valuations department, plus five percent as administration fees. We gathered all the sufficient paperwork and bills (including, unfortunately, the receipt for the new engine) and they took their valuation from this. Once the importation was done we went back to Maritime Affairs and the waiting game began again. The proposal had to go to another head of department and he had to write a report and a recommendation. In the meantime we were told that we had to go to the Tourism Department for a licence. After many meetings and lots of photocopying of papers, the man offered to help us import the boat with the new tax incentives. I told him that this had already been done, and after much deliberation he said he didn’t really think there was much that he could do for us. I think the main problem that we encountered was the fact that a new law had been passed and not everyone yet understood how it affected his or her department. I felt that there was a lot of time and effort wasted because they and we did not have all the correct information. I am sure that in the future this will be less of a problem! We wanted to start advertising our business and have some brochures printed, but we were reluctant to spend money in case the Maritime Affairs department denied our proposal. But Ben spoke with his favourite lady at Maritime and she told us to go ahead and start advertising, so we took her word for it. We had met quite a few friends in our time on the island and a lot of them were keen on learning to sail, so we were able to begin teaching courses aboard Papagayo around February 2014 and by the end of April the licence was finally in our hands. We had started the process around the middle of November 2013, so it was a good five and half months from start to finish, but we have operated businesses in Asia and Africa and compared to those areas, St. Lucia was a breeze. Yes, it did take a long time, but there was a process in place for everything, the people we dealt with were friendly and professional, and we encountered nothing untoward. This made the experience so much easier than other places. You just have to be patient. Vicky Page First 4 Sail St. Lucia
CALENDAR JANUARY 1 Public holiday or “recovery day” in many places (New Year’s Day); Junkanoo parades in The Bahamas; SSCA New Year’s Day Gam in Trinidad, www.ssca.org 1 – 4 St. Kitts & Nevis Carnival. www.stkittsneviscarnival.com 1 – 4 Crucian Christmas Festival, St. Croix. www.stcroixtourism.com/christmas_festival.htm 2 Public holiday in Cuba (Victory of Armed Forces Day) and Haiti (Founding Fathers’ Day) 3 – 5 Public holiday in Guyana (The Prophet’s Birthday) 4 FULL MOON 6 Public holiday in some places (Three Kings Day/Epiphany) 7 Start of Panerai Transat Classique Race, Lanzarote to Martinique. www.paneraitransatclassique.com 9 – 25 St. Barts Music Festival. www.stbartsmusicfestival.org 10 Public holiday in the Bahamas (Majority Rule Day) 12 Public holiday in Puerto Rico (Eugenio María de Hostos Day) 15 – 18 Caribbean Laser Midwinter Regatta, Cabarete, Dominican Republic. www.caribwind.com 16 – 24 Mount Gay Rum Round Barbados Race Series. www.mountgayrumroundbarbadosrace.com 17 Around Antigua Race. AYC 17 – 18 San Sebastian Vela Cup, San Juan, Puerto Rico. mteixidor@yahoo.com 19 Public holiday in Puerto Rico and USVI (Martin Luther King Day) 21 Public holiday in Barbados (Errol Barrow Day) and the Dominican Republic (Our Lady of Altagracia) 21 – 4 Feb Mustique Blues Festival. www.discoversvg.com/index.php/en/mustique/events 22 – 25 Bequia Mount Gay Music Fest. www.bequiatourism.com/bequiamusicfest 24 - 25 Interlux Regatta, St. Maarten. SMYC 24 - 25 Martin Luther King Regatta, St. Thomas, USVI. STYC 25 Public holiday in Aruba (GF Croes Day) 26 Public holiday in the Cayman Islands (National Heroes’ Day) and the Dominican Republic (Duarte Day) 29 – 31 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, Montego Bay. http://jamaicajazzandblues.com 29 – 1 Feb SuperYacht Challenge Antigua. http://thesuperyachtchallenge.com 29 – 1 Feb St. Barth Fun Cup 29 – 3 Feb Grenada Sailing Week (yachts). http://grenadasailingweek.com 31 Puerto Rico Dragon Boat Festival. Ponce, Puerto Rico. www.puertoricodragonboat.com 31 – 1 Feb Grenada Sailing Festival (workboats). www.grenadasailingfestival.com 31 – 1 Feb Cruising Outpost cruisers’ party, Road Town, Tortola. www.cruisingoutpost.com FEBRUARY 1 – 8 Antigua Dragon Yacht Club Challenge. www.harmonyhallantigua.com/yacht-club 2 World Wetlands Day. www.ramsar.org 3 FULL MOON 6 – 8 Club Náutico de San Juan Int’l Regatta, Puerto Rico. CNSJ 7 Public holiday in Grenada (39th Anniversary of Independence) 7 – 8 Cruising Outpost magazine cruisers’ party, St. Maarten. www.cruisingoutpost.com 8 Sailors’ & Landlubbers’ Auction, Bequia. www.bequiasunshineschool.org 13 – 15 Round Martinique Carnival Regatta. www.theroundmartinique.com 13 – 17 25th Semaine Nautique Internationale de Schoelcher, Martinique. www.cnschoelcher.net/regates/24eme-semaine-nautique 14 – 15 Jolly Harbour Valentine’s Regatta, Antigua. JHYC 15 – 22 Holetown Festival, Barbados. www.holetownfestivalbarbados.org/background.html 16 Public holiday in Puerto Rico and USVI (Presidents’ Day) 16 – 17 Carnival Monday and Tuesday in most Dutch and French islands, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Dominica, Carriacou, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela and other places 18 Public holiday in many places (Ash Wednesday) 21 – 22 VIODA Champs, St. Thomas, USVI. STYC 22 Public holiday in St. Lucia (Independence Day) 22 – 24 Cruzan Open Regatta 23 Start of RORC Caribbean 600 race, Antigua. http://caribbean600.rorc.org 23 Public holiday in Guyana (Republic Day) 26 – 28 Cayman Islands Festival of the Arts. www.artscayman.org/cayfest TBA Tobago Carnival Regatta JANUARY 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 49 All information was correct to the best of our knowledge at the time this issue of Compass went to press — but plans change, so please contact event organizers directly for confirmation. If you would like a nautical or tourism event listed FREE in our monthly calendar, please send the name and date(s) of the event and the name and contact information of the organizing body to sally@caribbeancompass.com
Page 1 and 2: C A R I B B E A N FREE C MPASS JANU
Page 3 and 4: HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015 The Caribbean
Page 5 and 6: — Continued from previous page Ka
Page 7 and 8: EAT PLAY FISH CRUISE NOT NECESSARIL
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Page 11 and 12: The Return of the Storm Bird by Pat
Page 13 and 14: — Continued from previous page AR
Page 15 and 16: — Continued from previous page Th
Page 17 and 18: — Continued from page 15 The Crui
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Page 21 and 22: ONCE upon a time there was a beauti
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Page 25 and 26: Grand Cayman: We Went to Hell and B
Page 27 and 28: CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2015 JANUARY 201
Page 29 and 30: CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2015 JANUARY 201
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Page 33 and 34: Old Providence: From Puritans and P
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Page 39 and 40: BOOK REVIEW BY J. WYNNER An Island
Page 41 and 42: Nadine Slavinski is a parent, sailo
Page 43 and 44: LOOK OUT FOR… Manchineel Trees Re
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Page 47: READERS' FORUM CUSTOMS AND CIVIL RI
Page 51 and 52: Caribbean Compass Market Place
Page 53 and 54: Spotless Stainless Makes Stainless
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Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine January 2015

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